CHAP. 21.—THE POLIUM, OR TEUTHRION.
It is the same, too, with the polium,[1] a herb employed for
a similar purpose among the Greeks, and highly extolled by
Musæus and Hesiod, who assert that it is useful for every purpose,
and more particularly for the acquisition of fame and
honour;[2] indeed, it is a truly marvellous production, if it is
the fact, as they state, that its leaves are white in the morning,
purple at midday, and azure[3] at sunset. There are two
varieties of it, the field polium, which is larger, and the wild,[4]
which is more diminutive. Some persons give it the name of
"teuthrion."[5] The leaves resemble the white hairs of a
human being; they take their rise immediately from the root,
and never exceed a palm in height.
1. Probably the Teucrium polium of Linnæus; the herb poley, or poleymountain.
2. By those who carry it on their person.
3. This marvel is related by Dioscorides in reference to the Tripolium,
and not the Polium.
4. The Teucrium montanum, probably, of Linnæus.
5. This name belongs, properly, to the wild or mountain Polium.